FLoJo
Well-Known Member
Ok, so I am writing this in an attempt to cover the bases on treatments and cures for our most common enemy the spider mite AKA the borg.
Spider mites are tricky little creatures in the sense that they can sneak in undetected, and build up a considerable army before being noticed. they can track there way in on people, plants, animals, wind, etc.
The problem is that these little buggers have the uncanny ability to
A. reproduce
B. stunt and eat the hell out of your babies
C. become immune to different treatments and chemicals that we throw at them.
Now it seems that the key to beating the borg is continued treatments with multiple different kinds of chemicals and oils.. I am going to outline the various treatment methods ..
at the first sign of spider mites you should take action, and it is advisable to take precautions even if you do not have any that you can see.
If you have clones the best thing to do is get a bucket of WARM water and make a combination of neem oil and safer soap or additive free dish washing soap. You want the water to be warm so that the neem oil will break apart and mix throughout the water. DO NOT dunk your plants in until the water has safely come back to room temperature.
The safer soap will not only act as a wetting agent to help coat the plant but also weakens the exoskeletons of the lil buggers. The neem oil will make them immobile so they cannot move and suffocate them.
Dunking is the most effective method while they are smaller because it coats everything from the ground up, but this is a very effective spray as long as you dont have super mites.. we will get to that later.
You should spray every three days, the undersides of the leaves or dunk every three days depending on size. This is the most eco friendly and safest method of treatment. This is what you should try first.
Next which for some works wonders for others not so much is pepper spray.. Many people will put one tablespoon of cayanne pepper in a 9 part water 1 part additive free dishwashing soap to make a pepper spray, or you can buy some at the store called hot pepper wax.
This works pretty well as an added weapon to your brigade to help combat the lil buggers especially if you have the red spider mites. I do not know exactly why this works but I would guess it is because it gives them indigestion and they shit themselves to death.. (kidding)
then we have diatomaceous earth which is basically like fossil dust which is very jagged. it cuts the spider mites apart as they crawl across it and dehydrates them. I have personally never used it but I hear it is really good for when your plants are in veg. You do not want to use it during flower because the particles will stick to the bud and can cut up your throat and lungs if you smoke it! you will want to mix this with some form of wetting agent to help it stick to the babies! This is also a good preventative measure because it can be put on top of the soil at the base of your plants and kill any pests trying to crawl up on your kiddos!
next is pyrethium bombs. These are the foggers you can buy that vary from .0012 percent to commercial grade 4.0 percent. You can use these up until about week 4 of flowering then its not really safe to use. These bombs usually work pretty well after a couple of foggings but recently I had a group of mites that were not even phased by the 4.0 percent bomb... You have to get out for a few hours and turn of ventilation when using these so they can do their job. you DO NOT want to breathe this shit it is no bueno.
then there is floromite and avid. Never used these either but these are mite specific insecticides and can be quite costly. they kill mites in all stages of growth and are safe to use in early flowering. many people swear by these products while others say mites are becoming immune to these formulas as well!
lastly we have nicotine tea which was brought to my attention by Seamaiden. I took 15g of organic tobacco, steeped in hot water over night, added a little bit of safer soap and had fantastic results! killed all but a few of the . I dont know if it kills the eggs as well I will know that in a few days. I used this after using almost all of the above and works the best because I had the super strong genetically altered two spotted mites. you can use it at least 4 weeks into flower and supposedly longer without any harm. do not mix it too strong because nicotine is toxic to all living organisms!
That is about all for now I will update later as I get more info and feel free to chime in with your experiences with these little bastards!
also knowing what kind of mite you are fighting is a good start. if you have a microscope and you can see if it is the red mite or the two spotted mite (has two black or dark colored spots on either side of its abdomen) you will know what kind of a fight you are in for. As i stated earlier the red mites are pretty easy to get rid of especially when using neem oil and cayenne pepper spray.. the two spotted mite on the other hand needs constant battling with many different approaches. the latter are the ones that grow immune to different treatments
Spider mites are tricky little creatures in the sense that they can sneak in undetected, and build up a considerable army before being noticed. they can track there way in on people, plants, animals, wind, etc.
The problem is that these little buggers have the uncanny ability to
A. reproduce
B. stunt and eat the hell out of your babies
C. become immune to different treatments and chemicals that we throw at them.
Now it seems that the key to beating the borg is continued treatments with multiple different kinds of chemicals and oils.. I am going to outline the various treatment methods ..
at the first sign of spider mites you should take action, and it is advisable to take precautions even if you do not have any that you can see.
If you have clones the best thing to do is get a bucket of WARM water and make a combination of neem oil and safer soap or additive free dish washing soap. You want the water to be warm so that the neem oil will break apart and mix throughout the water. DO NOT dunk your plants in until the water has safely come back to room temperature.
The safer soap will not only act as a wetting agent to help coat the plant but also weakens the exoskeletons of the lil buggers. The neem oil will make them immobile so they cannot move and suffocate them.
Dunking is the most effective method while they are smaller because it coats everything from the ground up, but this is a very effective spray as long as you dont have super mites.. we will get to that later.
You should spray every three days, the undersides of the leaves or dunk every three days depending on size. This is the most eco friendly and safest method of treatment. This is what you should try first.
Next which for some works wonders for others not so much is pepper spray.. Many people will put one tablespoon of cayanne pepper in a 9 part water 1 part additive free dishwashing soap to make a pepper spray, or you can buy some at the store called hot pepper wax.
This works pretty well as an added weapon to your brigade to help combat the lil buggers especially if you have the red spider mites. I do not know exactly why this works but I would guess it is because it gives them indigestion and they shit themselves to death.. (kidding)
then we have diatomaceous earth which is basically like fossil dust which is very jagged. it cuts the spider mites apart as they crawl across it and dehydrates them. I have personally never used it but I hear it is really good for when your plants are in veg. You do not want to use it during flower because the particles will stick to the bud and can cut up your throat and lungs if you smoke it! you will want to mix this with some form of wetting agent to help it stick to the babies! This is also a good preventative measure because it can be put on top of the soil at the base of your plants and kill any pests trying to crawl up on your kiddos!
next is pyrethium bombs. These are the foggers you can buy that vary from .0012 percent to commercial grade 4.0 percent. You can use these up until about week 4 of flowering then its not really safe to use. These bombs usually work pretty well after a couple of foggings but recently I had a group of mites that were not even phased by the 4.0 percent bomb... You have to get out for a few hours and turn of ventilation when using these so they can do their job. you DO NOT want to breathe this shit it is no bueno.
then there is floromite and avid. Never used these either but these are mite specific insecticides and can be quite costly. they kill mites in all stages of growth and are safe to use in early flowering. many people swear by these products while others say mites are becoming immune to these formulas as well!
lastly we have nicotine tea which was brought to my attention by Seamaiden. I took 15g of organic tobacco, steeped in hot water over night, added a little bit of safer soap and had fantastic results! killed all but a few of the . I dont know if it kills the eggs as well I will know that in a few days. I used this after using almost all of the above and works the best because I had the super strong genetically altered two spotted mites. you can use it at least 4 weeks into flower and supposedly longer without any harm. do not mix it too strong because nicotine is toxic to all living organisms!
That is about all for now I will update later as I get more info and feel free to chime in with your experiences with these little bastards!
also knowing what kind of mite you are fighting is a good start. if you have a microscope and you can see if it is the red mite or the two spotted mite (has two black or dark colored spots on either side of its abdomen) you will know what kind of a fight you are in for. As i stated earlier the red mites are pretty easy to get rid of especially when using neem oil and cayenne pepper spray.. the two spotted mite on the other hand needs constant battling with many different approaches. the latter are the ones that grow immune to different treatments
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so please remember to rinse.
